


Grunge and Pastel; Caught in the Middle

by Itskodameow



Category: Archie Comics & Related Fandoms, Riverdale (TV 2017), Riverdale (TV 2017) RPF
Genre: 80's, AU, Andie Walsh and Duckie Dale are my original OTP, Endgame, F/M, Gen, Light Angst, Pretty in Pink AU, and let's make it Bughead, let's be real, we all know who Andie should have picked
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-25
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-07-17 07:24:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16090829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Itskodameow/pseuds/Itskodameow
Summary: Betty Cooper has always lived on the Southside of Riverdale, the "wrong" side of the tracks, so to speak. Betty is about to finish out her senior year at Riverdale High and longs for a life of her own in a different town, where there is no right or wrong side of the tracks, and no self destructive father too look after. Betty, unfortunately, is used to things not working out in her favor. She's used to blending into the background, invisible to nearly everyone except her best friend, Juggie. Juggie thinks she hung the moon and it blows her away sometimes. She loves him as a friend, sometimes she thinks she might love him as more, but shes not entirely willing to lose the one constant in her life, hoping that he'll always be her Juggie. Will the last 10 weeks of her senior play out the same as the rest of her high school career at Riverdale, or will a red headed bull come crashing into her proverbial china shop?





	1. Waking Up on the Wrong Side of the Tracks

 Betty Cooper, for as long as she can remember, has always woken up at 6:30 every morning. Most days she's woken up by her radio clock turning on with her alarm, but on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, it's by the incessant blaring of the train horn as it tears past her bedroom window. Betty Cooper has always lived on the wrong side of the tracks, the Southside of Riverdale, with her family and beloved shephard mix, Vegas. Betty rubs the sleep from her eyes as she rolls over to turn off her alarm. She gets out of bed, yawning and stretching on her way to the only bathroom to shower before she wakes her dad, Hal, for the day. It's been just Betty, Hal and Vegas for almost 4 years now. Betty's mother, Alice, left when she was barely 14, right before going into her freshman year.

 Betty didn't really mind, she never thought Alice was cut out for motherhood, not all women are, it wasn't her fault. Betty feels bad for her dad though, Hal loved Alice so much, really loved her, despite all her flaws and short comings when it came to being a wife and mother. Hal never really bounced back after she left, barely getting out of bed in the morning unless Betty practically funnels coffee down Hal's throat, and falling into bed later than he should, almost always drunk. Betty gets out of the shower around 7 and attempts to wake her dad before getting dressed and ready for school. She starts the water to boil for the coffee press and goes to get dressed. This is Betty's favorite part of the day, Betty loves putting together her outfits, since she makes many of the pieces by hand. When Betty is dressed and her hair is blow diried and scraped into her signature high ponytail, she goes to wake her dad again, coffee in hand.

 Barging into his room as loud as she can manage and practically shouting, "Daddy, it's 7:30. You need to wake up," she opens the curtains. This finally gets the man to stir, she hands him his coffee as she sits on the bed. "Daddy, I got your clothes laid out, on the chair right there, and I need you to take a shower, shave and get dressed so you can go see that woman at the unemployment office about getting a job."  Hal lets out a huff as he sets himself up against his headboard, "Betty," Hal starts, taking a sip of his coffee, "I'm perfectly fine with what I'm doing at the plant." Betty rolls her eyes, "Daddy, you're perfectly fine with part time work?" She asks, eyebrows raised. Hal sighs as he looks Betty in the eyes for the first time that mornng, "No, I'm not. That's why I'm getting up." 

 Betty flashes him a big toothy smile as she throws her arms around his neck and kisses his cheek. She gets up to leave and Hal waits until her footsteps retreat to curl back into his pillows. Betty, knowing her father, peeks her head back in the door and sees him sit right back up. Hal gives her a sheepish grin and grumbles, "I'm up, I'm up." Betty just shakes her head and goes back to getting her stuff together for school. With her backpack slung over her shoulder she grabs her keys from the table by the door and heads out, calling out "Love you, daddy! I'll see you when I get off work!" Betty makes her way to Riverdale High School, listening to the radio and mindlessly tapping on the steering wheel. Betty was fortunate enough to go to the more affluent Riverdale High, as opposed to Southside High, due to being just inside district lines. That's not to say that Riverdale High didn't come with it's own disadvantages, it did, as a poor kid blessed by imaginary lines on a map she was relegated to the outside. Literally and figuratively. All of the poor or more disillusioned kids, however you want to slice it, stuck to the outdoor courtyard while the "richies" hung out in the halls and cafeteria.

 Betty had woken up in a relatively good mood this morning and she had felt optimistic about the day. She felt excited about finishing out her senior year, that is until Chuck Clayton, of all people, sauntered up to her car as she was getting her bag out of the back seat. "Hey, Coop," the tall, dark, handsome prep greeted as he leaned against the hood of her car. "Loving the look today, very vintage chic," he said with a smirk. Betty swung her bag over her shoulder as she turned to him and leveled him with the most apathetic glare she could muster. "What do you want, Chuck?" Betty asked. Chuck reeled back with his hands up in a defensive position, as if she had slapped him. "Hey, Hey, I'm just tryin' to be friendly. You should be grateful that I take the time to try to get to know you. Honestly, I like you for four years, and this is the thanks I get?" Betty supresses the deep seated urge to roll her emerald green eyes behind her delicate, gold rimmed, rose tinted John Lennon sunglasses. "Chuck," Betty starts, "If it weren't for all your money and good looks, nobody would ever look twice at you. While I know _you_ give a whole shitload about what other people think of you, I couldn't care less what you think about me. Now, will you please get off of my car?" Chuck appraises her for a few seconds before pushing off the hood of her car, nodding his head and glancing around to see if anyone had heard their interaction. "You're a real bitch, you know that?" he mutters to her before walking away.

 Betty finally gives into the urge to roll her eyes as she makes her way, held head high, through the front enterance of Riverdale High. She heads towards her locker, trying to gather her composure before she comes face to face with the one constant in her life, her favorite person. Forsythe Pendleton "Jughead" Jones III, whom she so affectionately refers to as Juggie. She dips her head to hide her self induced blush, she loves Juggie, as a friend of course, but sometimes when she thinks about the way he looks at her like she hung the moon she wonders if it's an entirely platonic love. She loves the way he looks at her when he thinks she's not paying attention, theres so much love and adoration in his eyes, it makes her heart do somersaults. Juggie spots her coming down the hall, and in true Jughead fashion, shouts, "Ahh, there she is! My muse, light of my life, fairer than the goddess Aphtodite, Betty cooper."

 Betty just dips her chin further into her chest, positive her blush has traveled all the way up her neck to her cheeks by now. "Juggie," Betty chides, "Why must you always make such a scene? We saw each other  _yesterday_." "Awh, come on Betts, you know I'm dramatic. Plus, I love you to the moon and back, so what's a guy to do?" He says, with his sideways grin, Betty's personal favorite. Betty internally rolls her eyes at herself for wishing he could be serious about one thing in his life, especially if it ends up being her. She shakes the thought and instead looks at him and asks, "Juggie, have you thought about SATs, yet?  Have you even thought about going to class today?" Juggie sucks his teeth, the way he usually does when avoiding a serious question, or his feelings in general, before he says, " You know, I really want to go to calculus, but I'm not sure if I'm emotionally ready," looking at Betty with his deepest puppy-dog eyes on and a slight pout to his lower lip. Betty swats at his chest playfully and turns to begin her trek to AP English Literature. "We're seniors, Juggie, you can't blow off real life forever," Betty shouts over her shoulder as she walks away. 

 "You know, Betts, when you're right you're right," Juggie yells down the hall after her, "All right, my dear, may I admire you again today?" "Go to class, Juggie," Betty yells back as the final warning bell echoes through the now almost empty halls. "Excellent! Lunch it is, I'll book us our usual table," Juggie shouts back, turning to walk to his first period of the day and almost jumping out of his skin when he comes nose to nose with the famously stoic Principal Weatherbee. "Where do you belong, Mr. Jones?" Weatherbee asks, sliding his rectangular, wire rimmed glasses up his long nose with a single finger. Juggie sighs, "You know, that's a pretty deep question for 8 o'clock in the morning, Weatherbee," he says as he pushes the ever errant curl of raven colored hair back under his iconic grey kint beanie with the crown-like rim. Weatherbee just sighs before he says, "Get to class, Forsythe." Juggie visibly cringes at the use of his birth name. "Low blow, Weatherbee. I was on my way. Have a lovely morning," he says with a flourish of his hands as he backs away from the stone faced principal, before turning the nearest corner and speed-walking the opposite direction. (Juggie might be dramatic, but he definitely doesn't run.)

  In Betty's AP English Literature class things were going about as well as could be expected. She was listening to Mrs. Grundy drone on about sonnets when she heard an incessant tapping and a 'pst' over her right shoulder. She looked in the direction of the sound to find Cheryl Blossom and Ginger Lopez sneering at her. "Where do you shop?" Cheryl asks around a snicker, "The five and dime store?" Ginger finishes, giggling behind her hand. Betty just rolls her eyes and turns back towards the blackboard. She's proud of her outfit today. While, yes, she is an avid thrift shopper, she makes a lot of her clothes herself. Betty loves fashion, she loves being able to make things her own and add a little flare to existing pieces. Betty made the cream white, calf length, mermaid skirt and floral crop vest that went over her pretty blush pink blouse with the lace collar and trim. The blouse is second hand, as is the wide leather belt she wore around her hips and most of her accesories. Betty was still lost in thought when she heard Mrs. Grundy punctuate the sentence she was writing on the blackboard with a hard smack of the chalk. "Ms. Cooper," Mrs. Grundy starts as she turns to face the class, "Is there something going on between you and Ms. Blossom and Ms. Lopez?" Mrs. Grundy asked, eyes trained on Cheryl and Ginger. "Uh, no," Betty starts, "There's nothing going on, Mrs. Grundy. Everything is fine." 

 Mrs. Grundy Clears her throat before saying, "On behalf of Ms. Blossom and Ms. Lopez, I'd like apologize for the disruption, and offer a full outline on sonnets 1, 3, and 5 as reparations." Cheryl and Ginger roll their eyes simultaneously and slump deeper into their desks. Tentatively, Betty raises her hand to get Mrs. Grundy's attention again, when she's met with a questioning arched eyebrow, she says, "Mrs. Grundy, I'm fine. It's really no big deal, they don't have to do the outlines." Mrs. Grundy directs her questioning glare towards Cheryl and Ginger, and the two girls share a side glance before saying, in unison, "We'll take the outlines." Betty internally sighs and rolls her eyes as Mrs. Grundy says, "Well, if that's settled, let's get back to the task at hand," and goes back to her lecture. Betty thinks to herself,  _I was just trying to be civil for God's sake, how am I the bad guy in this?_ Graduation seemed so far away at this point. _It's only 10 more weeks_ , Betty tells her self. She can make it until then. Hopefully 


	2. Trax, baby

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At the only Trax Betty really cares for, she has her first encounter with a certain ginger stallion

  The rest of the school day had carried on in pretty much the same fashion, so Betty was relieved to start her shift at Trax. Trax is the most popular record store in Riverdale. They specialize in vinyls, vintage and current hits, but they sell cassettes, CDs, and some fun sunglasses and other accessories when they get them in. Betty was lucky enough to have become best friends with the store’s sole owner and operator, Veronica Lodge, daughter of local millionaire and savvy business mogul Hiram Lodge. Veronica, in her sophomore year at Columbia, decided she didn’t want to study business just to take over her father’s legacy, she wanted to make her own. So Veronica drew up a very impressive business proposal (for a college dropout) and made her case (all but begged) to her father about giving her a business loan to start up her brain-child. Veronica is a pretty eccentric woman by nature, so combined with the blind ambition drilled into her by her successful parents, she managed to pull it off.

Trax has been open since Betty’s sophomore year at Riverdale and she’s worked here since that summer. Veronica is 24 now and she had graduated when Betty was still in middle school, so they never crossed paths but Betty always new who she was. During Veronica’s years as the Riverdale Vixens’ head cheer captain, she had blessed the trophy cases with towering statues and her perfect, pearly white smile. Betty never imagined herself with such a glamorous best friend, but she supposed some things happen for a reason. Betty was watching Veronica put together her latest window display with an amused smile on her face. Veronica is all hands on, and very stubborn about it. Betty had offered to help when she first started her shift but Veronica insisted she had it handled, so Betty let her work while she sat at the till. Veronica had managed to staple at least a hundred surplus records to every surface possible and hung CDs from fishing wire off the ceiling so they appeared to be floating in mid-air. Betty has to give it to her, it looks really cool. As Veronica stapled the last fishing wire to the ceiling she backed away with her hands still raised, admiring her handy work as she turned to Betty and said, “Applause, applause, applause!”

  “It really looks great, V,” Betty said. Betty was smiling to herself as Veronica basked in pride over her latest vision, when out of the corner of her eye she saw a boy, about 12 or 13, about to pocket one of the new cassettes on display. Betty was about to yell at the little thief but Veronica is quicker. With the large staple gun still in hand, Veronica whips around to face the kid and fires off a staple in his direction. The little twerp drops the cassette as his hand flies up to his cheek.

  “You missed my eye by an inch,” the pest shouts. “Half an inch,” comes Veronica’s cool reply, one hand on her hip and staple gun still extended.

  “Now scram before I call security!” The shop phone starts ringing shrilly and Veronica goes to answer it as the kid is sprinting out the door. Betty is so distracted by the sudden cacophony of noise that she doesn’t notice someone walking in as the kid sprinted out until she locks eyes with Riverdale High’s own rich, ginger stallion, Archie Andrews, as he moves his white Raybans off his face to rest amongst his vibrant, soft looking locks. Betty hadn’t seen him approach the store so she sits up in shock when they lock eyes. Archie smirks at her as he holds her gaze. Betty had seen him around school before, she does have eyeballs. Plus they’d both lived in Riverdale their entire lives, albeit on different sides. But in the almost 2 years that Betty has worked here he’s never come in so she can’t seem to bring herself to look away purely out of shock. 

  Betty, realizing she’s been staring at him not unlike a crazy person, breaks their eye contact first and looks back to the design she had been working on. The design in front of her is Betty’s ideal prom dress, but she’d never be able to afford the baby pink silk she would love to make it out of. Betty thinks she’ll be able to find something second hand she can customize, that is if she ever gets asked to prom. Trying to focus on her design and ignore the butterflies from their lingering eye contact proves to be fruitless though, as she can’t stop peeking at him from under her eyelashes. 

  She watches Archie as he peruses the new releases, picking up a couple of records and flipping them back and forth before slipping them back into place. Betty admires the cut of his plain white T-shirt across his biceps as his arms flex with the movement and Betty is a little mesmerized by it. Just a little. Archie finally settles on a record before turning back to the checkout counter and tucking the album under his arm. Betty stands up as he approaches and stares at him slack jawed until he places the record on the counter with an amused “Hi.” 

  Betty snaps her mouth shut as she feels herself blush all the way to the tips of her ears. Betty looks down and takes a deep breath and shakes her head at herself. Betty looks back up at him and manages to stutter out, “Uh, hi. Can I help you?”

Betty rolls her eyes at herself when Archie chuckles and looks at the counter before leveling her with a knee-weakening smirk, “Yeah,” he says, “this any good?” gesturing to the record on the counter between them. Betty looks down and runs her finger along the edge of the Paul Newman record. Personally, it’s not Betty’s style but, he might like it. Betty looks back up to his eyes and in the breathiest voice she can muster whispers, “Hot. White hot.”

Betty thinks it has the desired effect on him when Archie smiles and bites the corner of his lip be fore he asks, “Yeah?” Betty only nods, holding his gaze and biting her own lip shyly. “Okay,” Archie says, “yeah, I’ll take it.” “Perfect,” Betty says. “Cash? Check?” (And because the bitter Southsider in her just can’t seem to help it) “American Express Platinum card, maybe?”

“Uh, cash,” Archie says with a nervous chuckle, “thanks.” Betty taps the numbers into the till and Archie produces the bills requested when the cash drawer pops open. Betty hands him his receipt and change but when the transaction is finished Archie lingers, fiddling with the protective plastic covering the record.

“Well okay then, thanks again. I’ll see you around, Betty,” Archie finally says as he backs away and moves his sunglasses from the top of his head back over his eyes. He turns away ands pulls the door open to exit. When Betty hears the bell above the door chime with his departure she lets go of the breath she didn’t even realize she was holding and drops onto her stool behind the counter. Shamefully, her first thought when she comes back to her senses is _Archie Andrews knows my name?!_

Internally groaning, Betty puts her elbows on the counter and smothers her face in her hands. V, who had been on the phone, pacing back and forth through the store hangs up almost immediately and skitters over to Betty, flapping her hands at her sides like an excited little penguin.

“Oh my god, B!” Veronica all but squeals. “Who was that? He was so cute!” Betty sighs and lifts her head to look at Veronica, folding her hands beneath her chin, “That was Archie Andrews. One of the richest, most popular guys at my school, who I just made a complete ass out of myself in front of,” Betty bemoans.

“I don’t know about that, girl. He was totally flirting with you.”

Betty looks around at nothing in a very _is she serious?_ manner before looking back at V and saying, “How would you even know? You were on the phone diddling around the store the whole time.” Veronica scrunches her nose and wags her finger at Betty, “Ah ah ah, you underestimate me, B. Never underestimate a Lodge. I have eyes and ears in places you can’t even imagine. One of the many things I inherited from my father that makes me a great business woman. Now spill.”

Betty giggles and rolls her eyes at Veronica’s antics, always gossiping, “There’s really nothing to tell, V. Even if he was flirting with me, I’m not gonna get my hopes up. We don’t exactly run in the same social circles,” Betty says, looking back to her sketch and _hopefully_ ending the conversation and maybe making some actual progress on her design. Veronica seems to take the hint and let it go for now, but not before sing-songing over her shoulder, “Stranger things have happened,” as she walks into her office.

Betty just shakes her head and smiles to herself as she shades her drawing. Betty hates to admit it but she finds her mind wandering to all the _what-ifs_ that came with what Veronica had said. _What if he was flirting with me? What if he asks me out? What if this is some elaborate ruse orchestrated by Chuck to humiliate me for turning him down all the time? What if it isn’t and he takes me to prom and we graduate together and live happily ever after?_

None of these hypotheticals Betty can be sure of, so she does her best to let them go.

For now.


	3. The Wyrm and what its like to live on Maple Street

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty can't get over what happened between her and Archie at Trax that day, and because of it she can't help but resent her situation.

 Hal had been getting home from the plant late for the past couple weeks since his hours had been switched to swing shift, so Betty decided to meet her other friends, Toni and her boyfriend Sweet Pea, at The Wyrm. The Wyrm is a big club on the Southside, owned and opperated by the Southside Serpents, local biker club. The Wyrm has live music almost every night, pretty good food (considering it's technically a "biker bar") and they don't card at the door, so the three of them have been coming here since they were 16. So long as they don't try to order any alcoholic beverages or make waves, they never get kicked out. Betty and Toni became friends in eighth grade because Toni is strong and opinionated where Betty is quiet and typically nonconfrontational. They balance each other out, yin and yang. 

 Betty thinks Toni and Sweet Pea make the perfect couple, very yin and yang themselves. Toni with her all of 5 feet in height and caramel-mocha skin; long, wavy, light brown and pink streaked hair, all packaging a spit fire attitude and fierce loyalty to her friends. Then there was Sweet Pea, at a towering six foot two or three; olive skin and wavy jet black hair, same fierce loyalty but quite more reserved. Toni and Sweets are both junior members of the Southside Serpents, legacies if you will, born into leather and motorcycles, and they both go to Riverdale High with Betty. The Serpents like to call themselves a biker gang, but Betty thinks if Toni and Sweet Pea are anything to go by, they're all a bunch of kittens in leather and combat boots.

 Betty is lost in thought trying to listen to the indie band that's playing, she thinks they sound like a weird mix of regae, jazz, and bluegrass. Definitely not her style. Betty also cannot stop going over her interaction with Archie earlier that day, she thinks he was fliring with her, _b_ _ut what did it all mean? Anything? Nothing?_   Whether it meant anything or not in the first place, Betty keeps going back to the same issue that makes her think it meant something, and then nothing. Money. More specifically,  _his_ money and her inherent lack thereof.  Betty turns to Toni, her most lovingly, brutally honest friend for some answers. "Toni?" Betty starts tentatively, "would you ever consider going out with someone that had money?" Toni's jaw literally drops as she exhales the drag she just took off her cigarette, and Betty doesn't miss her side-glance to Sweet Pea, her blissfully unaware counterpart. "I know," Betty says, "but, totally hypothetical, would you?" Toni just keeps gawking at her like she's grown two extra heads.  _For God's sake,_ Betty thinks,  _it's like I freaking broke her._  

 Betty flounders, "I mean, it doesn't matter. It's all," Betty sighs, "material." Betty still isn't getting anything from Toni other than that ridiculous look, so she turns to the, still silent, remaining third of their table. "Sweets?" Betty says, to which Sweet Pea finally brings his attention to the conversation. "What would you do if your father came home one day a rich man?" "Kiss his ass," Sweet Pea responds around a chuckle. "See?" Betty says, turning back to Toni. "See what?" Toni asks, "I still don't understand what you're going on about." Betty groans in frustratoin and embarassment as she runs her fingers through her hair, releasing it from its ponytail. Toni seems to finally get it when she spots the blush now high on Betty's cheeks. "Hey, wait a second," Toni says, "are you thinking about going out with some _richie?"_ Betty sighs and shakes her head, "I gotta go," Betty says, standing up to grab her bag from the back of her chair and leave. "I'll see you at school, Toni," Betty says before waving a hand in front of Sweet Pea's face, "Sweet Pea, it's been stimulating." He laughs and gives her a mock salute as she makes her way to the exit. "Wait, Betty, you can't leave now!" Toni shouts to the retreating form of her blonde best friend. Betty just waves a hand over her head with turning around.

 Juggie is sitting outside The Wyrm with the bouncer, Joaquin, sharing a bag of chips and waiting for Betty. Juggie should be able to call Joaquin one of his best friends by now, since the four of them have been coming here for almost three years and out of all four of them, Joaquin hasn't let Juggie in once. Not one time. "How long I been coming here, Joaquin?" Juggie asks, "I don't know," Joaquin says, pushing up the sleeves of his blazer and flipping open his zippo to light the cigarette between his lips, "two, three years?" "Right," Juggie says, "and how many times have you let me in?" "I never let you in," says Joaquin, exhaling the first drag off his cigarette "you know that, Jug." "That's what I'm sayin'," Juggie wails, throwing his arms out to his sides for emphasis. "All this time and I gotta sit out here while my girlfriend- well, my she's my friend and she's a girl so she's my girl-friend-, but she's in there and I'm out here! I mean, you're a young, sexually potent kinda guy, you gotta know how that hurts." Joaquin nods, "Lemme ask you a serious question, Jug," he takes another drag of his cigarette, "why does she still come here, knowing I don't let you in, hm?"

 Juggie takes a deep breath, blinking rapidly, (he'd honestly rather not think about the possible answers to that question) "I don't know," he says on a sigh. Joaquin takes a drag off his cigarette again, "Exactly. So my advice to you is, dump her. Lose the girl. You don't need that, love's a bitch, Jug. Love's a bitch!" Juggie shakes his head in faux exasperartion, because he knows he'll never let go of his Betty as long as she puts up with him. Keeping up with his cool guy facade however, he says, "Ain't it the truth, ain't it the truth. High five." Juggie and Joaquin slap hands to punctuate the end of their conversation. "Hey, you wanna try a cigarette?" Joaquin asks, pulling another one from his pack and handing it to Juggie. "Here, now hold it like this, and you gotta inhale when I light it." Juggie is saved by the bell as Betty walks out into the parking lot just as Joaquin was about to light the Marlboro between his lips, but to Juggie's utter horror, Joaquin stops her from making the rest of the way to her car. "Hey, baby baby, hold on a sec. Lemme ask you something, if you worship the Jug why don't you hang out somewhere he can get in, eh?"

 Juggie pops up from the stool he was perched on, shouting, "Okay! Hey, Quin man, all right, thank you. Okay," moving to grasp Betty's elbow and redirect her back to her car. "See, Joquin is dyslexic, so everything comes out totally backwards. Like, he meant if I worship you-" "It's fine, Juggie-" Betty tries to interupt his ramble, "Really? Are you sure? Because if he offended you I'll gladly go back there and wipe up this parking lot with his face," Juggie says. "I'm really okay, Jug," Betty says with a chuckle at his typical dramatics, "but thank you anyway." Betty knows as well as he does that Juggie has no idea how to fight, which makes the (totally sincere) offer all that much sweeter. "Okay, well as long as you're all right," Juggie says, "So what now?" "Bed," Betty says. "Yours or mine? Ours?" Juggie asks with a playful smirk. Betty shoots him a glare and a smirk of her own, "Nice try," she says, trying to look mad but unable to keep the mirth from her eyes.

 "Okay, can I at least get a ride home?" Juggie asks. "Yeah, get in," Betty says, sliding into the drivers seat and leaning over to unlock the passenger side. "Naw, so sweet," Juggie says, "Wait, can I lay down and put my head in your lap? Better yet can I lean my head on your shoulder and let you steer?" "Get in, Juggie," Betty says as she starts the engine, losing her patience. "Oookay," Juggie says, defeated, and opens the door to slide into the passenger seat.

 Betty wasn't entirely ready to go home to an empty (save for Vegas) house, so she takes a detour to the Northside to admire her favorite houses. All the houses on Maple Street are huge colonial style mansions, with wrap around decks, big pillars, and perfectly manicured lawns accompanied by big wrought iron gates at the beginning of each driveway. "Could you imagine living in one of these houses, Jug?" Betty asks. "Hey, first million I make I'll buy you one," Juggie responds absentmindedly while flipping through songs. "I'm serious, Juggie," Betty says, "look how beautiful they are." "You want beauty, look in a mirror. This whole tape is awful, Betty," Juggie says, still flipping through songs every two seconds. Betty just rolls her eyes and continues her slow roll down Maple Street until she comes to a stop in front of an especially spectacular house. This house is probably the biggest one on the block, sitting atop a massive lawn and all lit up from the inside and out. Even the front porch ligh is a chandelier, perfectly positioned above the large forrest green front door and between the two main pillars of the front entrance at the top of the red brick steps.

 Juggie is still fiddling with the radio and going on about how awful the tape is when Betty lets out a deep sigh and says, "That one is my favorite," leaning her elbow on the car door and resting her head on her knuckles. "Are you deaf?" Juggie asks increduously, not paying attention to what Betty was actually talking about. "Juggie," Betty says as she finally slaps his hand away from her cassette player, "I meant the house," she finishes, pointing out the window over his shoulder. Juggie looks over his shoulder at the house Betty is gazing at. "Oh yeah, thats a nice little crib," Juggie says. "I wonder what it's like inside," Betty says, mostly thinking out loud. Juggie, wondering where Betty has gone to in her thoughts just now, asks, "Well, what difference does it make?" "You know what the really sad part is though?" Betty asks rhetorically again, "I bet the people that live there don't think it's half as pretty as I do," she finishes, answering her own initial question.

 Juggie watches the emotions dance across Betty's eyes; envy, resentment, sadness, and something else he can't quite name, longing, perhaps, before deciding to try and deflect, hopefully making Betty smile again. "Betty, they just don't write love songs like they used to. I just- I can't- I'm- I- I- ugh." Out of the corner of his eye, Juggie sees that he at least succeeded in bringing her out of her reverie and a smile back to her face as she rolls her eyes at him. "My evening is shot, Betty. Just drive me home, please." Juggie watches Betty pull away from the curb, still smiling to herself and shaking her head at his antics, thinking to himself,  _My night is far from terrible, Betty. Every minute I get to spend with you is the best of my life. Always._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ugh, what else can I say but I'm sorry this chapter took so long, I was on vacation for a week and couldn't find the energy to finish this chapter, haha. As usual I have no beta so all mistakes are mine.


	4. The blessings and curses of deep R.E.M. sleep

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty gets a rude awakening in more ways than one.

 That night in bed, Betty tosses and turns, dreaming of flashes of firey orange and broad shoulders wrapped in white cotton. She dreams of strong arms wrapped all around her, lips she's never felt before in places that make her gasp. The head of firey hair and strongs hands travel over her front, touching and caressing their way down, making Betty whimper in her sleep. The hands come back up, cupping Betty's neck and grazing her jawline. As the hands caress Betty's neck, she realizes these aren't the same hands as before, they feel different but familiar somehow. Betty looks down to see the head of hair, but instead of firey orange she finds the color of midnight.

 Betty's breath hitches in her throat, she would know that hair anywhere. Beanie or no beanie. "Juggie," Betty whispers, and the head of midnight locks finally meets her eyes with his, pools of ice blue she could drown in. The hands, Juggie's hands, are now clasped on each side of her face, thumbs brushing over her cheekbones, nose, and lips. She realizes now what feels different about his hands. His rings. Juggie always wears rings, and Betty loves it. She loves the way they make his fingers look so long and agile. Now, she loves the way they feel against her skin, a bit of cool, smooth metal with the soft warmth of his palms makes a delicately delicious combination, one she thinks she will crave for the rest of her life. 

 Betty is lost in the frosty blue of Juggie's eyes as he runs his index finger down her nose to her lips again. "Betty," Juggie whispers, leaning close enough Betty can swear she feels his warm breath fanning over her face. "Oh, Juggie," Betty whispers, leaning into him and staring at his lips. "Betty," Juggie whispers again, leaning in even further. Betty lets her eyes flutter closed, waiting for the sweet, tender releif of feeling Juggie's soft lips press against her own. They're so close their breaths are intermingling, so close, and then the 6:30am train rips past her bedroom window, blaring its horn at the exact same time her radio clock turns on. Betty is literally jerked from slumber as the sudden cacophony wakes her with a jump and and a shout, launching herself a foot in the air and then to the floor wrapped up in her bedding.

 Before Betty can get her bearings, Vegas comes bounding up the stairs, barking with such ferocity Betty knows he was woken up in much the same manner she was. Betty is still on the floor tangled in her quilt so she's helpless to stop Vegas' relieved kiss-attack at finding her safe and not being murdered. Betty finally finds her arms in the mass of blankets to take hold of Vegas' face. "I'm okay, boy, I'm okay," Betty says, dodging Vegas's licks and ruffling behind his ears. "Thank you for saving me, Vegas," she says, laughing as she pushes herself up from the floor. Betty sits on the edge of her bed and shakes her head, "Jesus," she mutters to herself, "that's one hell of a way to wake up." Betty musses her hair with both hands before scrubbing them over her face with a groggy, "ughhhh," and getting up to go shower.

 Vegas is still at Betty's feet when she makes her way to the bathroom, "What do you wanna bet we didn't even wake Daddy up?" she asks Vegas, who gives her a curious head tilt in response. Betty just laughs and pats Vegas on the head before turning to close the bathroom door. Betty leans over the tub to start the shower, then goes back to the sink and starts brushing her teeth. Betty's just watching her reflection in the mirror when flashes of her dream come back to her. Betty closes her eyes to try and make them stop but it only makes what she can remember seem more vivid. 

 His eyes, his hair, his fingers. His rings. God, his rings. Betty honestly doesn't know how she'll keep her composure around him after that. Betty has felt Juggie's hands on her body before, but not on totally bare skin and _definitely_ not in the places she dreamed of. Betty spits the last of her toothpaste in the sink, rinses her mouth, and gets in the shower, turning the tap to cold.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little Black Friday special! Unbeta'd, all mistakes are mine.


	5. Between a Rock and an... Awkward Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Betty has an uncomfortable day, Juggie has a heart to heart, Archie has skillz, and this author is crap at writing summaries :'D

  When Betty got to school that morning and didn't find Juggie waiting for her at her locker, she was honestly relieved at not having to face him after the dream she had. That feeling was quickly replaced with frustration when she realized he was most likely ditching again. Betty decided it was probably best if she try to put it to the back of her mind, along with the unfortunate incident that morning. Little did Betty know, Juggie was paying a visit to a familiar face while she was busy at school.

 Betty's day had been rather uneventful so far, and it was looking to stay that way when she made it to her study hall period after lunch. She was in the library on one of the computers doing research for her World History term paper, and still hadn't seen Juggie at school, so she was surprised when an instant message popped up on her screen.

  _"Do you want to talk?"_  

 Betty tried to ignore the hopeful flutter of her heart and looked for Juggie in her peripherals before responding, “ _Juggie, I was_ working, _”_ she typed back, trying to bury the grin threatening to break out on her face. Betty watches the little dots come and go he types his response, anxious to see what sarcastic quip he comes up with, and feels her heart drop into her stomach when she sees the words, _"Who's Juggie?"_ appear in front of her.

  _No way,_ Betty thinks,  _Archie? It has to be, all my other friends know Juggie._ Biting her lip in contemplation, fingers hovering over the keyboard, she internally debates her response. _"I'm waiting..."_ pops up on her screen and Betty panics. Finally she settles on, _"Do you know who I am?"_ Pixel by pixel Betty watches her school I.D. photo materialize on her screen.

 Thoroughly impressed, Betty smiles and lets out an amused huff. _"Do you know who you are?"_ Betty types back. Once again, she watches pixel by pixel as the face of Archie Andrews takes over her screen, and she can't hold back the small surprised squeak that comes out of her. Still only half believeing what's on the screen in front of her, Betty slowly stands up to scan the library. She is almost to her full height and focused on scanning the room when Archie stands up from the cubicle on the opposite side of hers.

 The two of them lock eyes and all Betty can muster is a dazed sort of laugh before the bell rings, signaling the end of her free period. Betty gives Archie a sheepish grin and starts packing her books into her bag before fleeing the library. Archie watches her with a smirk, wondering what exactly it is he finds so intriguing about this girl.

 

 

  After the dream he had last night, Juggie was compelled to pay a visit to Hal and talk to him about he and Betty's future. Juggie was used to dreaming of Betty, _his literal dream girl_ , but **_this_** dream. God, it was beautiful, Betty was beautiful. He was in a field of green, the same shade as Betty's eyes. Betty was in a flowing, pristine white dress, with long sleeves made of sheer lace. Her hair was down in loose waves with pieces pinned back away from her face (Juggie's personal favorite) and she was carrying a boquet of blush pink roses and white lillies, walking down an aisle towards him. Betty had just reached him at the end of the aisle, taken his hand and was opening her mouth to say something, when he was woken up by a Nerf football to the face; courtesey of his 13 year old sister, Jellybean.

 The dream he had just been abruptly waken from was so real Juggie could've cried when it was over, if not for his rage at the demon he calls his younger sibling. So after throwing the offending object back at the intruder, missing by a wide berth and hitting the wall, and yelling at Jellybean to get out Juggie decided he wasn't going to school today. He couldn't face Betty, not after that, and some might call him a coward but he decided to take some other matters into his hands. Juggie got up and got ready like he usually did, but after seeing JB to the bus stop, instead of continuing on his way to Riverdale High he doubled back to his house and came up with a plan.

 After killing an hour trying to figure out what to say, Juggie found himself in a lawn chair under the big tree in Hal Cooper's front yard, sharing a Coke and small talk with the man while he gathered his resolve to discuss his future with the aformentioned man's daughter. 

 "So I decided to come by," Juggie starts, "other than meaning to come by and just say hey anyway, because I wanted to talk to you about Betty."

 "Okay," Hal says slowly, silently urging Juggie to continue.

 "Well," Juggie says, "I just want you to know that my main concern in life is making sure she's taken care of. Honestly, whatever she needs, I'll be there. I plan on doing everything in my power to make that happen." _Okay dude, you're rambling now_ , Juggie thinks to himself, deciding to close his mouth for now.

 "Well," Hal says, seeing where this is going, "that's very nice of you, Forsythe."

 Juggie smiles and nods at Hal, internally cringing at the use of his birth name, before looking at his hands in his lap and fiddling with his rings. _Now or never man, come on_ , Juggie thinks to himself. Not able to look Hal in the eye, Juggie says to his lap, "And some day... I would like to marry her." He holds his breath before looking back at Hal.

  _Ah_ , Hal thinks, _there it is_. "I see," Hal says, "and, does Betty know how you feel?" 

 Juggie lets out the breath he was holding and sucks his teeth, "Well," he starts, "there's no confirmation on that just yet, but I'm laying the ground work. You know, education, income, housing and all those things. But Betty and I can make it work, I'm sure about that."

 Hal looks down at Vegas by his feet and taps his knee while he tries to decide how to say what he has to say, as gently as possible.

 "Forsythe," Hal starts, "I appreciate that you care so deeply about Betty, and I know how you feel. I've felt the same way about someone, myself." 

 "Oh, a girl?" Juggie asks, with a wide grin.

 "Yes, a girl," Hal says around a chuckle. "I loved her, and I even married her."

 "Oh, this was Betty's mom?" Juggie clarifies.

 Hal lets out a sigh, "Yeah, Betty's mom, Alice," he says with a small, sort of sad smile. "I thought she was the one, the love of my life," Hal continues, "and then she left. I haven't seen or heard from her in almost," Hal blows a deep breath through his lips, "oh, almost four years now."

 Juggie doesn't know what to say, so he fiddles with the loose threads of his cut-offs, hoping Hal might continue.

 "I'm not saying all this to take the wind out of your sails, son," Hal starts, making Juggie look back at him with a little flutter of hope in his chest, "I'm just saying its important to have a back-up plan. You can go to college and get a good job, but do it for yourself too."

  _Well fuck, I don't even know who I am without Betty, we've been best friends our whole lives. In perspective, me actually being in love with Betty is fairly recent_ , Juggie thinks while looking into the bottom of his empty Coke can, begging it to give him some answers. _I don't remember a lot about Alice, she wasn't around much even before she left, but I remember enough to know she and Betty are nothing alike. Unfortunately I'm seeing a lot of myself in Hal now, though._

 Juggie heaves an unintentionally weary sounding sigh before he pushes himself up from his seat. "Well," he starts, "I appreciate you humoring me and the sage advice, but I'm burning daylight." Juggie tosses his empty can in the nearby recycling bin before grabbing his bike to leave.

 "Welp, I'm off like a dirty shirt," Juggie says before swinging his leg over his bike and pushing himself away from the curb. "See ya, Hal," he calls over his shoulder as he rides down the street.  _College, a good job,_ Juggie thinks as he's riding back to his house to change before visiting Betty at Trax, _what would I do? What am I even good at? God, it's way too late to be just starting to think about but I have to do something._

 

Betty never saw Juggie at school, and while she was mad at him for blowing it off this close to graduation, she decided to go to his classes and get any important assignments he missed, like the caring and dutiful friend she is.

_Who ditches on a tuesday?_ Betty thought to herself as she went around talking to his teachers at the end of the day. It was an easy task since they had World History and Economics together and she's had the rest of his schedule memorized since the second week of the semester, but it didn't please her to have to pick up the slack for him like this. _Okay, so I don't actually **have** to do it, but who else will if he won't? It's just because I care._

Betty had another shift at Trax and tuesdays were always dead, even V doesn't come in on tuesdays and she owns the place. While Betty isn't technically a manager, she's better at managerial things like balancing the till and V trusts her enough to run the place on her own, so the store isn't suffering from her absence, but Betty is just _so bored_. Bored enough that after reorganizing the magazine racks (for the third time), Betty starts trying on the tacky new sunglasses they put in bins at the front counter.

 Betty was looking at her reflection in the small mirror on the wall behind the counter when Archie’s head pops up over her right shoulder in the mirror.

  _Oh my God_ , Betty thinks, _fuck, be cool Betty._ Betty schools her face and lowers the _truly awful_  asymmetrical, yellow and red sunglasses to meet Archie’s gaze in the reflection. Betty has to stifle a groan when she sees him with a wide open smile on his face, the tip of his tongue grazing his front teeth before getting trapped between pearly whites, holding back a laugh.

 Archie holds her gaze in the mirror until Betty turns to face him head on, lifting the offensive glasses from her head and tossing them into the bin. It’s tense for a second before they both try to fill the awkward silence at the same time.

 “We just got a bunch of glasses in...”

 “So I didn’t really...”

 “What?”

 They both stop to laugh, awkward and nervous. Betty stays quiet, biting her lip and maintaining eye contact, silently saying ‘You go, I have no idea what to say.’ Blissfully, Archie takes the hint.

 “So I didn’t really care for that album I got the other day,” Archie says in a tone that belies his faux-dissapointment.

  _It was only yesterday_ , Betty thinks, before she says, “Oh? A little too hip, maybe?”

 Archie smiles and does that thing with his tongue pressing against his eye-tooth before running over the front of his teeth again, making him look wolf-like. (In a good way.) Betty has to grip the counter to keeps her knees from giving out under her.

 Finally, Archie says, “Yeah, a little too hip.” 

 Betty almost forgot what they were talking about before she purses her lips and nods. “What about something a little more underground? Edgy?” _Something like me,_ the deceitful part of her brain supplies. Archie bites his lip, pretending to think it over.

 “Edgy is good,” Archie finally says, looking back at Betty with a smirk. Betty is just looking at Archie, swooning would be an appropriate word, unable to form a response when the alarm to the back door starts going off.

 “Shit,” Betty says mostly to herself, her head snapping to the storage room. Looking back at Archie she says, “I have to go see what that is.” She starts to run back to the storage room but stops at the magazine rack to snatch up a random one and goes back to the counter. Betty slaps what ended up being a copy of French Vogue on the counter in front of Archie. 

 “Here,” Betty says, “you can look at this and I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”

 Archie watches her scamper away with amusement dancing in his eyes before picking up the magazine and flipping through it.

 Betty storms through the storage room door, putting together a plan of attack in her head against the would-be daylight robber, only to find Juggie leaning against the old desk in the corner.

 “Hey!” Juggie has to shout over the alarm, “How’s your day?”

 Betty, her panic quickly turning to anger, levels Juggie with the most withering glare she can muster as she stalks over to the desk for the keys to the alarm, housed in the drawer Juggie has parked himself against. Betty bumps him to the side with her hip, with maybe a little more force than necessary if the way Juggie staggers sideways is anything to go by, grabs the keys and slams the drawer shut. After turning off the alarm and facing Juggie, Betty sees he at least still has enough sense to look ashamed.

 Out of all the things Betty could have said, she’s not sure why the first words out of her mouth are, “Why weren’t you at school all day?” Betty almost smacks herself in the forehead, while Juggie just looks at her slightly flustered.

 “I... had something I needed to take care of,” he finally says.

 “What was so important that it couldn’t wait until after? So important that you missed the whole day? I got your assignments for you too, not that you care. You know there’s only like, two months of actual school left, right? What am I supposed to do for you when you won’t even help yourself? What am I supposed to do if you can’t graduate with me?!”

 Betty didn’t realize that she had started yelling, but when she stopped to take a breath, she took in Juggie shocked face, his hands outstretched like he wanted to hold her or comfort her. Then she sees his rings. He’s wearing the one Betty considers her favorite. On his middle finger of his right hand, he wears a big stainless steel ring with a fake pillow-cut sapphire, Betty’s birthstone. She’s not sure if he knows that, but he probably does.

 Betty closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to start yelling,”

 “It’s okay,” Juggie starts, cutting off Betty’s unwarranted apology, “I kinda deserve it. I know I haven’t been as serious as I should be, I just didn’t know you cared so much,” he finishes sheepishly, shoving his hands in his front pockets. “So if anything I should be the one apologizing, and saying thank you, of course,” Juggie says, dipping his head to give Betty his notorious puppy-dog eyes.

 Betty smiles despite herself, “Well in that case you’re welcome, but I have to get back out there. You’re not totally off the hook though, I don’t work tomorrow evening so you should come over and we’ll work on our essay questions for World History, okay?”

 Betty starts edging back towards the front of the store, waiting for Juggie to respond. He waves her away with, “Yeah, it’s a date,” but she’s not even looking at him anymore when the words pass his lips. Betty stops in her tracks just on the other side of the doorway, and Juggie peeks over her shoulder to see Archie Andrews and Chuck Clayton with arms around each other’s shoulders and laughing about (probably) some dumb thing the other said, walking out the front door.

 Betty, seemingly forgetting he’s still there, slumps against the door frame with a wistful sigh. Juggie doesn’t stay to see the disappointment likely painted over her face.

 The backdoor to Trax, leading into the alleyway, slams behind him as the alarm starts blaring again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As usual this chapter is self edited and I have absolutely no excuses for how long it took other than I wasn't satisfied with it. I'd also like to blame the holidays because I can. Thank you/Enjoy/I'm sorry

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I just wanna say how excited I am to finally have my own AO3 account to post on. This is amazing, not only can I post my fics, I can finally purge my safari bookmarks of all the fics I'm currently reading. But that's not what you're here for! Hopefully you're here to leave some kudos or comment on Grunge and Pastel; Caught in the Middle, my Pretty in Pink/80's Bughead AU multi chapter fic! After this first chapter I have another in the works and hopefully I can get it up soon. I don't have a set schedule for updates in my mind but I'm hoping for at least every other week. Also, none of this is beta'd so please forgive any mistakes/typos. Thank you again for reading! I'm on tumblr as itskodameow, love!


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